Group pulls out of trying to slay the Tesco dragon

BELFAST BRIEFING:IT WAS billed as a David and Goliath battle between a mighty British supermarket multiple and a Northern Ireland group fighting on behalf of small, independent traders.

At stake, according to the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association, was the future of Banbridge town centre, which it claimed would be devastated if a proposed new out- of-town, biggest-on-the-island Tesco hypermarket got the go-ahead.

For the last five years, the retail trade association has thrown everything in its arsenal and spent an estimated £70,000-plus campaigning against the proposed store to be built at Bridgewater retail park on the outskirts of Banbridge.

The park is better known to shoppers North and South as the Outlet village on the main A1 road between Belfast and Dublin.

The association has always maintained that the proposed Tesco “hypermarket” would remove £18 million from Banbridge town centre, resulting in small independent traders closing and the net loss of hundreds of jobs”.

Tesco, which has a town centre store in Banbridge, has consistently argued that the hypermarket would create hundreds of jobs and deliver an investment boost to the area.

Both Tesco and the association have in the last five years campaigned vigorously from Banbridge to Stormont on their respective point of views, resulting in an emotionally charged fight over the proposed hypermarket which effectively managed to divide the town.

Some people including local politicians backed it while traders and business people – such as Joe Quail whose family have been “purveyors of fine foods for over 100 years” in Banbridge, enthusiastically opposed it.

More than 3,000 local people signed a petition objecting to the proposed out-of-town store.

The trade association and Banbridge Chamber of Commerce were the most vocal and energetic on the opposing side launching a highly-energetic “Save Banbridge Town Centre” campaign.

Thanks to the no campaign, Tesco was forced to lodge three planning applications for the proposed store and had to whittle down the size from its originally intended 130,000 sq ft store.

When it finally got the green light for the store last March, the association decided to launch a judicial review against the decision.

Now though, the formerly fearless association has suddenly decided out of the blue to embark on a U-turn of almost biblical proportions. It intends “not to continue” with its legal challenge against the store and has withdrawn its judicial review.

Has the landscape changed?

Not if appearances were anything to go by at Quails butchery and deli in the town yesterday as a respectable queue gathered at lunchtime.

Nor did the many families bustling around the Outlet centre during the school holidays seem to sense a change in the air.

Nothing according to the retail trade association has changed either. It still believes the proposed out-of-town Tesco store would drain £18 million from Banbridge town centre and it still views the proposed store as a threat.

So why then does it appear to have given up the fight?

According to chief executive Glyn Roberts, the “planning, legal and retail landscapes have changed” since it launched its legal challenge last year.

Roberts says that while the association has “decided to move on”, it still has major concerns about Tesco’s out-of-town intentions.

“Banbridge has one of the best town centres in Northern Ireland and we still have the view that this application will threaten its future viability. We are not anti-Tesco or anti-multiple, but we are anti-out of town.

“While we have withdrawn our legal action, we are still committed to Banbridge town centre and its local traders and hope that we can work with the local council to ensure that it does have a future despite the threat of this out of town hypermarket.”

It is not like the association to give up without a fight, so does it know something that everyone else does not?

Its research suggests that the way people shop in Northern Ireland, particularly for groceries, has changed dramatically over the last five years. It says market research shows consumers in the North are spending a lot less and when it comes to food shopping, there is less of an indication to do a “big weekly shop”.

“Shopping patterns are now dictated by what is happening in our economy – incomes are down, unemployment is up. We see right across the North that people are not spending as much as they used whether it is on food or non-grocery items,” Roberts says.

He adds that there are a number of Tesco stores not too far away, in Craigavon, Lurgan and Lisburn. The group also intends to develop a new Tesco Extra store in Newry which is scheduled to open next May.

Small traders in Banbridge are not taking any bets on their future. They know there will be tough times ahead, but privately many are now happy to speculate on the chances of whether Tesco will proceed with its original plans for an out-of-town store at the retail park on their doorsteps.

We are not anti-Tesco or anti-multiple, but we are anti-out of town